SOFTENG 310 : Software Evolution and Maintenance

Engineering

2024 Semester Two (1245) (15 POINTS)

Course Prescription

Design and maintenance of multi-version software, debugging techniques, design and documentation for software re-use, programme migration and transformation, refactoring, tools for software evolution and maintenance.

Course Overview

SE310 focuses on the maintenance and evolution of software products. Software maintenance activities represent a substantial proportion of the development effort undertaken over the lifetime of a software system. Through this course, we will explore the principles and techniques of software maintenance, both well-established and emerging.

Part 1: Introduction to software maintenance and evolution.
The first part of the course will introduce software evolution and maintenance. We will cover various software development practices, techniques, and tools to help build good quality applications that are easier to comprehend, maintain, reuse, and evolve.
Coursework for this part will consist of: contributing code to a software project with other contributors, identifying and preventing code quality and maintainability related issues, managing dependencies, performing code reviews, and writing a reflection essay on continuous code quality control.

Part 2: Working with legacy code.
In part two of the course, we will explore the challenges of maintaining a preexisting codebase. The topics covered will include, legacy code, technical debt, refactoring, debugging, and user-generated requirements.
Students will experience working with legacy code first-hand, as they are given an existing codebase, and will be required to maintain and evolve the product, through the second half of the course.

Course Requirements

Prerequisite: SOFTENG 254 or 283

Capabilities Developed in this Course

Capability 3: Knowledge and Practice
Capability 4: Critical Thinking
Capability 6: Communication
Capability 7: Collaboration

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to:
  1. Write code that is easy to understand and maintain. (Capability 3.1, 6.1 and 7.1)
  2. Learn and apply tools to support source code quality. (Capability 3.1)
  3. Demonstrate ability to comprehend and review someone else’s code, by performing code reviews, as well as evaluating another team's full project repository. (Capability 3.1, 6.1 and 7.1)
  4. Develop and demonstrate the ability to work with legacy code. Students should demonstrate an understanding of technical debt, refactoring, and reengineering. (Capability 3.1 and 6.1)
  5. Demonstrate an understanding of the techniques, tools, and challenges in debugging. (Capability 3.1)
  6. Learn about the role of user feedback in software maintenance. (Capability 3.1 and 4.1)

Assessments

Assessment Type Percentage Classification
Assignments 70% Group & Individual Coursework
Exam 30% Individual Examination
Assessment Type Learning Outcome Addressed
1 2 3 4 5 6
Assignments
Exam

Workload Expectations

This course is a standard 15 point course and students are expected to spend 10 hours per week involved in each 15 point course that they are enrolled in.

For each week in this course, you can expect 3 hours of lectures and 7 hours of work on assignments and/or exam preparation.

Delivery Mode

Campus Experience

Lectures will be available as recordings. 
The course may include live online events including group discussions.
Attendance on campus is required for the exam.
The activities for the course are scheduled as a standard weekly timetable.

Learning Resources

Course materials are made available in a learning and collaboration tool called Canvas which also includes reading lists and lecture recordings (where available).

Please remember that the recording of any class on a personal device requires the permission of the instructor.

Readings for the course will be made available on Canvas.

Health & Safety

In this course, as elsewhere on campus, students must comply with all University health and safety protocols. There are no labs associated with this course, so there are no special health and safety requirements. Students must ensure they are familiar with their Health and Safety responsibilities, as described in the university's Health and Safety policy.

Student Feedback

At the end of every semester students will be invited to give feedback on the course and teaching through a tool called SET or Qualtrics. The lecturers and course co-ordinators will consider all feedback and respond with summaries and actions.

Your feedback helps teachers to improve the course and its delivery for future students.

Class Representatives in each class can take feedback to the department and faculty staff-student consultative committees.

Based on student feedback in 2023, we plan to revise some of the assessments so there will be less deadlines in the course. We will also add a few items to the lectures and covert the full course to flipped learning.

Academic Integrity

The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting their learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. This requirement also applies to sources on the internet. A student's assessed work may be reviewed for potential plagiarism or other forms of academic misconduct, using computerised detection mechanisms.

Class Representatives

Class representatives are students tasked with representing student issues to departments, faculties, and the wider university. If you have a complaint about this course, please contact your class rep who will know how to raise it in the right channels. See your departmental noticeboard for contact details for your class reps.

Inclusive Learning

All students are asked to discuss any impairment related requirements privately, face to face and/or in written form with the course coordinator, lecturer or tutor.

Student Disability Services also provides support for students with a wide range of impairments, both visible and invisible, to succeed and excel at the University. For more information and contact details, please visit the Student Disability Services’ website http://disability.auckland.ac.nz

Special Circumstances

If your ability to complete assessed coursework is affected by illness or other personal circumstances outside of your control, contact a member of teaching staff as soon as possible before the assessment is due.

If your personal circumstances significantly affect your performance, or preparation, for an exam or eligible written test, refer to the University’s aegrotat or compassionate consideration page https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/exams-and-final-results/during-exams/aegrotat-and-compassionate-consideration.html.

This should be done as soon as possible and no later than seven days after the affected test or exam date.

Learning Continuity

In the event of an unexpected disruption, we undertake to maintain the continuity and standard of teaching and learning in all your courses throughout the year. If there are unexpected disruptions the University has contingency plans to ensure that access to your course continues and course assessment continues to meet the principles of the University’s assessment policy. Some adjustments may need to be made in emergencies. You will be kept fully informed by your course co-ordinator/director, and if disruption occurs you should refer to the university website for information about how to proceed.

Student Charter and Responsibilities

The Student Charter assumes and acknowledges that students are active participants in the learning process and that they have responsibilities to the institution and the international community of scholars. The University expects that students will act at all times in a way that demonstrates respect for the rights of other students and staff so that the learning environment is both safe and productive. For further information visit Student Charter https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/forms-policies-and-guidelines/student-policies-and-guidelines/student-charter.html.

Disclaimer

Elements of this outline may be subject to change. The latest information about the course will be available for enrolled students in Canvas.

In this course students may be asked to submit coursework assessments digitally. The University reserves the right to conduct scheduled tests and examinations for this course online or through the use of computers or other electronic devices. Where tests or examinations are conducted online remote invigilation arrangements may be used. In exceptional circumstances changes to elements of this course may be necessary at short notice. Students enrolled in this course will be informed of any such changes and the reasons for them, as soon as possible, through Canvas.